Job 30:4
in Job 30They plucked mallow among the shrubs, and the roots of the broom tree were their food.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
They pluck salt-wort by the bushes; And the roots of the broom are their food.
KJV
Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their meat.
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This verse in Job 30
Commentary
2 notes on this verseWho cut up mallows by the bushes - מלוח malluach, which we translate mallows, comes from מלח melach, salt; some herb or shrub of a salt nature, sea-purslane, or the salsaria, salsola, or saltwort. Bochart says it is the ἁλιμος of the Greeks, and the halimus of the Romans. Some translate it nettles. The Syriac and Arabic omit the whole verse. The halimus, or atriplex halimus, grows near the sea in different countries, and is found in Spain, America, England, and Barbary.
This site's exposition
cut up mallows
on Job 30:4-6
Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their meat catalogues the diet of the truly destitute, mallows a bitter salt-plant and juniper roots a food of last resort, as Gill and Clarke both read from the region's own flora. Driven forth from among men, they cried after them as after a thief marks these fathers as treated like criminals rather than merely poor. Their dwelling in the clifts of the valleys, in caves of the earth completes a picture of men living wholly outside ordered society, the raw material from which their scornful sons now come.
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הַקֹּטְפִ֣ים | hakotefim | those [who] pluck off | H6998 → | |
| מַלּ֣וּחַ | maluach | mallow | H4408 → | |
| עֲלֵי־ | ʾalei- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| שִׂ֑יחַ | siach | bush[es] | H7880 → | |
| וְשֹׁ֖רֶשׁ | veshoresh | and [the] root of | H8328 → | 33 times |
| רְתָמִ֣ים | retamim | broom plants | H7574 → | |
| לַחְמָֽם׃ | lachmam | [for] food their | H3899 → | 298 times |
הַקֹּטְפִ֣יםthose [who] pluck off
hakotefimH6998 →
מַלּ֣וּחַmallow
maluachH4408 →
עֲלֵי־on
ʾalei-H5921 →5755 times
שִׂ֑יחַbush[es]
siachH7880 →
וְשֹׁ֖רֶשׁand [the] root of
veshoreshH8328 →33 times
רְתָמִ֣יםbroom plants
retamimH7574 →
לַחְמָֽם׃[for] food their
lachmamH3899 →298 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Amos 7:14“I was not a prophet,” Amos replied, “nor was I the son of a prophet; rather, I was a herdsman and a tender of sycamore-fig trees.
it leads to
- Amos 1:1
These are the words of Amos, who was among the sheepherders of Tekoa—what he saw concerning Israel two years before the earthquake, in the days when Uzziah was king of Judah and Jeroboam son…
- Zechariah 13:5
He will say, ‘I am not a prophet; I work the land, for I was purchased as a servant in my youth.’
- 2 Kings 2:5
Then the sons of the prophets at Jericho came up to Elisha and said, “Do you know that the LORD will take your master away from you today?” “Yes, I know,” he replied. “Do…
- 1 Corinthians 1:27
But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
- 2 Kings 4:38
When Elisha returned to Gilgal, there was a famine in the land. As the sons of the prophets were sitting at his feet, he said to his attendant, “Put on the large pot and…
- Amos 1:1
Through
Luke 15:16He longed to fill his belly with the pods the pigs were eating, but no one would give him a thing.
it leads to
- Romans 6:19–21
I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to escalating wickedness, so now…
- Hosea 12:1
Ephraim chases the wind and pursues the east wind all day long; he multiplies lies and violence; he makes a covenant with Assyria and sends olive oil to Egypt.
- Isaiah 55:2
Why spend money on that which is not bread, and your labor on that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the…
- Romans 6:19–21
About Job
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament.